Story+2008-04-14+Houston,+TX

“Good evening, Houston (crowd cheers) come on, Texas, I don’t hear you (crowd cheers) come on, Texas, I don’t hear you (crowd cheers) come on, Texas, I don’t hear you (crowd cheers)…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “Cadillac Ranch”**

“Is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers) is there anybody alive? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “Radio Nowhere”**

“Woo! (crowd cheers) good evening, Houston (crowd cheers) it’s good to be back (crowd cheers) back in Texas (crowd cheers)… thank you, thank you, Patti sends her love…we’ve got the three teenagers at home now so somebody’s gotta guard the fort…you know…I said, as I, as I left, the…the hash brownies were coming out of the oven and…the black helicopters were dropping kegs of beer in my backyard…all my favorite clothes were going up on eBay and…she’ll take care of that…she’ll get ‘em (chuckles)…and Danny sends his love and appreciates all your care (crowd cheers) this is a song, uh, looking forward to the end of eight years of bad, bad magic…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “Magic”**

“Good evening, Houston! (crowd cheers) are we having fun yet? (crowd cheers) that’s good…we’re so glad to be here in your beautiful city tonight (crowd cheers) we’re so glad to be here in the great state of Texas (crowd cheers) this is a song called “Livin’ in the Future”…but it’s about what’s happening now…now along with all the things that we love about the place we come from, in our home and all the things that we’re proud of about where we come from and who we are, we’ve had to add to the American picture over the past eight years things like rendition and illegal wiretapping and the rolling-back of civil liberties (some cheers and boos/Bruces) now these are the things that either because of the color of your skin or your circumstance or your religion you may think don’t have a big impact on your life but all of these things are an attack on our Constitution which means they’re an attack on ourselves as Americans and the things we stand for (crowd cheers) so this is a song about sleeping through changes that when you were a little kid your mom and pop told you happen only someplace else…and the mighty E Street Band is here tonight to do something about it (crowd cheers) we’re gonna sing about it!... that’s right, sing…oh, risqué…the mighty are trembling…somebody’s been fucking with my passport…I wanna know who…help me out, Max…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “Livin’ in the Future”**

“We need a new wind blowing…bring it home, boys, let’s bring it back home…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “The Promised Land”**

“This is for all the Texas girls (crowd cheers) let me hear those Texas girls out there (crowd cheers) come on, let me hear them Texas girls (crowd cheers) come on, I’m an old man, give me a big thrill, let me hear those Texas girls (crowd cheers) that’s right, that’s right, and one from New Jersey…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”**

“Oh yeah…oh, give me a little light, man…alright…alright, brother man, bring that thing up, give me that, give me that, give me that, oh yeah…what’s your name?...Quentin? where you from?...right here? alright…this song was written, could be before Quentin’s granddaddy was born (chuckles)(laughs from the crowd) you know we’re past the daddy-part now (chuckles)…this is for you old suckers out there (crowd cheers)…anybody over at Liberty Hall back then (crowd cheers) no way, the place only fit about a hundred people (chuckles)…are we ready, boys?...I know we remember this one (chuckles)…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “The E Street Shuffle”**

“Alright, Mr. Quentin (crowd cheers)…gonna do this one, we haven’t done this one in, uh…I had a very close friend* died before we started the tour, he worked with me for 23 years and today would’ve been his 68th birthday…and I also got a letter, a letter from some folks, uh, who wanted this sent out to Terry Cox, if I’m, I’m correct, I don’t…and, uh…so, uh…let me try it out…I need light… I can’t see as it is (chuckles)…this is for Ann Curtis, Timmy…I know they’re out in the hall somewhere, they say “We’ve got t-shirts that say “Ward Cox 9”…here we go…go ahead, Roy…” [*Terry Magovern, for whom the song was written.] [ Ward Cox was a 16-year-old who died in October 2007 in a swimming accident in Galveston, Texas. He wore number 9 on his football jersey.]
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “Terry’s Song” (following “The E Street Shuffle”)**

“We need another mike, need another mike…yes (crowd cheers) testing, testing, testing, that’s good…one, two, little bit (?)… coming out of New Jersey, I’ve always been a big fan of the Texas songwriters (crowd cheers) so I always like coming down this way to get a chance to see a few of my friends, folks whose work I admire, there’s been a fellow, one fellow who’s been, been putting out good records for so long, he’s gonna come up and he’s got a new record coming out on June 10th: Alejandro Escovedo (crowd cheers)…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “Always a Friend”**

“Alejandro Escovedo! (crowd cheers) yes!...oh yeah…he’s got a great album, one of the best albums he’s ever made, that’s the first cut on it, comes out June 10th, Alejandro Escovedo…I think there might be some other Texans around here somewhere (crowd cheers) I think there’s one around here somewhere…Mr. Joe Ely! (crowd cheers)…we got a Texas revue tonight…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “All Just to Get to You” (following “Always a Friend”)**

“The great Joe Ely!...Joe Ely! (crowd cheers) alright, boys…are you ready to dance? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “Rosalita”**

“(Intro music starts)…Thank you for coming out to the show tonight, Houston! (crowd cheers) thank you, Texas (crowd cheers) we got our friends tonight from the Houston Foodbank in the house, they feed half a million people each year, in this area half the hungry people have jobs, they’re struggling to feed their families…please on your way out help out the folks from the Houston Foodbank, they’re on the frontlines doing God’s work and they can use your support…the Houston Foodbank…come on, let me hear you now (crowd starts the chant)…I can’t hear you…I can’t hear you (crowd sings louder)…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”**

“Thanks for coming out to the show tonight (crowd cheers) we love you, Texas (crowd cheers)… (…) Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) Little Steven (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) the Mighty, Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano in for Dan Federici (crowd cheers) Nils Lofgren on the guitar (crowd cheers) we wanna thank Joe Ely and Alejandro Escovedo…and last but not least, you wish you could be like him but you can’t: Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) Houston! (crowd cheers) Houston! (crowd cheers) Houston! (crowd cheers) Texas! (crowd cheers) Texas! (crowd cheers) you’ve just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, earth-shocking, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary (crowd: “E Street Band”)…”
 * 14.04.08 Houston, TX, intro to “American Land”**

//Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi//